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Hello,

 

I've been very much enjoying a couple of figures for the Scandinavian GB and thought I could, sort-of, continue that here.

 

Very long ago the recently defunct "Military Modelling" ran a series of articles about Flats. I think it would have been about 1976, and I would have been 13 or 14 years old. I mail ordered a set of flats from the shop "Under Two Flags",  in London, on the back of those articles. "Under Two Flags" closed in the 2000s. It was run by an irascible Caledonian individual who didn't have much time for my 13 or 14 year old correspondence, I recall. I painted the flats with enamels and was well pleased with them as I remember. God knows what became of them.

 

I saw the same flats on e-Bay a few years ago and bought them. Here they are:

 

200425a Hunting boat front

Front,

 

200425b Hunting boat back

and back.

 

The e-Bay delivery included these too:

 

200425c Fishing boat front

 

200425d Fishing boat back

 

I didn't have these "as a kid", but thought I would paint them together.

 

All I've done so far is try out cellulose thinners as a paint stripper:

 

200425e Paint stripper try out

 

This worked pretty well without attacking the tin.

 

I hope these fit the GB and I'll keep you posted.

 

Alan

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  • 1 month later...

Hi. I thought I'd put up a tiny update.

 

Whoever previously painted these flats wasn't too fussy about cleaning up the castings, and this has only become more obvious after stripping off the paint. So, I've been cleaning up the castings:

 

200602a One cleaned up

 

On the left is un-cleaned-up and on the right is cleaned-up. I hope you can see the difference. If you can't, please don't let me know: I don't like people to see me crying.

 

This is a bit of an English-language Flats-bible:

 

200602b Taylor Book

 

In it Mike Taylor wrote: "figure cleaning is an exacting task...It...offers the painter time to dwell upon a single figure." I am here to tell you that he was not wrong! This is worse than a Zoukei-Moura piston block, previously my worst experience of clean-up. If I ever get to painting, I'll let you know.

 

Alan

 

 

 

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Massive difference.  At first glance I didn't notice a difference...then I saw the first bit of flash in the tree branches, then more, and more, and more.  How the hell did that not slap me in the face sooner?  :rofl2:

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  • 1 month later...

 

Hello again, finally.

 

After evening upon evening of clean-up I got these to this stage:

 

Huntin',

 

200624a Cleaned-up Fowling (2)

 

and Fishin',

 

200624b Cleaned-up Fishing (2)

 

To degrease them and, I hoped, get the last bits of old paint off, I tried this:

 

200704a USS cleaner

 

This is my wife's ultrasound jewellery cleaner. I fairly nearly washed my wife's engagement ring down the sink when she gave it a quick blast after the Zinnfiguren. I loaded it up with considerable trepidation but it seems to work pretty well. It makes my wife's jewellery sparkle but, weirdly took the shine off the Zinnfiguren. It makes them look as if they've been anodised.

Before:

 

200704b pre-USS

 

After:

 

200704c post-USS

 

And here they are primed:

 

200705_135456 (2)

 

20200705_135551 (2)

 

The good book above and, I'm pretty sure, Military Modelling c.1976 both suggest Humbrol H34 to prime them but I thought it would be a bit stark for comparing shades and colours. So, I've primed with Tamiya Fine Grey.

 

More tales from the riverbank for all you Paul Weller fans shortly, I hope.

 

Alan

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I was amazed by the difference in the unprepared to the fully prepared version. I have to do a bit of cleaning up on 28mm figures but nothing like that. The jewelry cleaner imparts a nice 'finish' though. Look forward to seeing them painted

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  • 1 month later...

Evening all.

On 7/5/2020 at 6:47 PM, Jinxman said:

They look really good - can't wait to see some colour on 'em.

Well, here you go, but only a bit. I've undercoated the reeds and started painting in the eyes:

 

200809a Postponement Reed undercoating 200809b Postponement Two eyes

 

but there is no way I can get these finished in a week and, in truth, this is a deliberate decision. The good book, above, and, I think, the articles in Military Modelling c.1976 would both say that these are not the best flats to start on because they have so much in the way of flesh tones to paint. I also badly don't want to mess these up because they are essentially irreplaceable, not to mention expensive.

 

So, I'm putting them in KUTA and am going to practice a bit on these soviet WWII soldiers:

 

200809c Easier flats. I hope

 

These chaps have wide expanses of plain colour which they tell me is a lot more suitable for practicing painting. They are still in production and come in at about 3 euros a throw. I don't expect they'll be any easier of clean-up!

 

Alan

 

 

Edited by Angus Tura
Duplication
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Looking forward to seeing this continue in the KUTA GB - I have a few builds that might need a run out then as well.

 

The Soviet flats look good as well - I see the political kommissar is at the rear urging the soldiers forward!

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